Category Archives for "Coach Nancy"

Great recipes don't get lost they get memorized. I love breakfast. I remember having my mom serve my brothers, sister, and I breakfast each day before school. It was a family event which is one reason I love it so. This recipe I make for my kids before they hit the books. 

Carlson Family Breakfast Hash

• 1 onion chopped, I used a bag of frozen chopped onion
• ½ green pepper, I used a half bag of frozen green peppers
• ½ red pepper, I used a half bag of frozen red peppers
• 2 cups cooked butternut squash, cubed – guess what I had leftovers so it was already done for me
• 2 cups Sausage (or ham cut into bite size pieces – and again I had it leftover so super easy)
• 1 apple cut into bit size pieces
• 1 Tablespoon of coconut oil

Sauté the onions and peppers in the oil until soft and translucent. After about 4 minutes add in the apple. Let this cook for a few minutes before adding in the rest. Heat until everything is hot. (about 5 minutes)

I fried two eggs to add on top of each portion. It was yummy.

Options: Vary the amounts for your family size, but if you make a large batch you have breakfast for the week all done. Use Chorizo or other flavorful meat you have on hand in place of the ham. Substituting sweet potato or other winter squash for the butternut squash adds a new twist on the taste. I like to add cinnamon to this dish too. If you like other veggies add them in too. But always, always enjoy. If you have someone whose not fond of eggs, it is super yummy on its own.

Enjoy good food,

Coach Nancy

I am so glad Dean is a helpful type of guy. Yesterday he helped a friend move a bedroom set and in return they gave him some hand picked blueberries from their freezer. YUM. So today at breakfast I remembered this fabulous recipe that Coach Dean came up with years ago. Frosting for breakfast. You've got to try this. 

Frosting for Breakfast

• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 2 scoops Beverly International Angel Food Cake protein or Vanilla Protein
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Whip this in your blender for true frosting consistency. I mixed it by hand which tastes the same but is a denser version. 

Since I mixed this by hand it was perfect for the top of my oatmeal. It melted down into the oatmeal as I ate. Fantastic. 

We've whipped this with a mixer and then used the frosting as a dip for strawberries or any other fruit. Also truly delicious. 

Give it a whirl. 

Thank you Coach Dean for helping others, and also having a creative mind to create this recipe for your family and others to enjoy.

Eat Good Food,

Coach Nancy

Searching through my archives of recipes, I came across this favorite. It is soooooo easy. I mean it is soooooo easy. Add in that my entire family loves this recipe and I've hit the jackpot. 

Italian Sausage in the Crockpot

• 2 pounds Italian Sausage
• 1 16 - ounce bag frozen peppers and onions
• 2 cans Italian diced tomatoes
• 1 Tablespoon onion powder
• 1 Tablespoon garlic powder

Put all the ingredients in your crockpot and turn on low for 6-8 hours. I use frozen but you can also use fresh peppers and onions you've cut up and thawed sausages. It'll cook a bit faster but the time in the crockpot adds to the flavors. 

Eat Good Food,

Coach Nancy

During recovery week I have a bit more time. Today I'm planning to make a dinner feast for my family. It includes the chicken thigh recipe below as well as sautéed summer squash, microgreen salad, applesauce, and cheddar bacon biscuits. I'm getting hungry just thinking about this meal. Here's the recipe for the chicken thighs. I'll post the biscuit recipe if they turn out good. 🙂

Oven Baked Chicken Thighs

• 1/2 cup stone ground mustard
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 6 chicken thigh, bone-in, skin-on
• 5 sprig thyme
• Salt and pepper , to taste

Preheat oven to 375˚F.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together mustard, stock, and garlic. Set aside. Place a large skillet over medium high heat. Once skillet is hot, add oil. Season chicken thighs generously with salt and pepper.

Sear chicken thighs skin side down for about 3 minutes or until browned. Flip each thigh over and continue to cook for an additional 2 minutes. Remove from heat. (this can be done in batches so you don’t overcrowd the skillet when searing). Once all thighs have been seared, drain all but 1 tablespoon fat from skillet and fit all thighs into skillet, if done in batches.

Pour sauce over chicken thighs and add thyme sprigs.

Place skillet in oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes (or until the internal temperature of chicken reaches 175˚F and juices run clear when pierced with a knife).

Remove skillet from oven and allow chicken to rest, about 5 minutes.

Spoon sauce over chicken thighs, season with a little more salt and pepper and sprinkle with fresh thyme leaves. Serve.

Enjoy good food,

Coach Nancy

Cr8 Fitness just finished the YOU 2.0 in 21 Challenge. If you didn't catch the end results check them out here. YOU amazed your coach once again with your consistent work to be healthier. Let's keep that momentum rolling forward. Summer will be here before you know it. Summer always finds us wanting to be outside and active. It just feels good to be in the fresh air. It's so much easier to keep excuses at bay if our bodies are feeling and looking good. 

We need to keep on Making It Happen. Stepping on the InBody once a month will give you feedback on how you are doing. Of course every other week while staying focused on nutrition will help us make tweaks in our eating plan. 

In April you'll step on the InBody at least once. To help keep you accountable I've created a calendar on one of the large white boards in the gym. 

What should you do if you train on Zoom and still want to scan? Just let me know, I'll make sure you can scan when it works for you. I'll add your name to the calendar and keep you accountable. How cool is that? 

Next step for you? Next time you are into Cr8 Fitness place your name on the date you'll scan. Then scan on that date. That seems pretty easy. Your peeps and I will keep you accountable to your scan day. Then use that information to help you move even farther into a healthy routine. 

There are some tools we've created to help you along your journey.  

• The Ultimate Guide to Meal Planning
• The Ultimate Guide to Proactive Aging
• All our blogs including recipes
• Cr8 Your Plate - a menu planning service

Click on a few or click on them all. They are here for you to take advantage of. 

To your best health,

Coach Nancy

Everything is Better with Bacon. Deviled Eggs just got kicked up a notch. How to make them got easier too. It's almost Easter so many of us will be coloring eggs. I know my family loves to color the eggs but not so hot on eating hard boiled eggs for the next 10 days. They like deviled eggs and these little guys have bacon in them. I let the girls taste test one. They gave it a thumbs up. They probably would have told me how awesome they were but since they had food in their mouths a thumbs up worked well.

Bacon Deviled Eggs

• 6 eggs
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon mayonaise
• 1 Tablespoon mustard
• paprika
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 3-4 slices of cooked bacon (about 1/4 cup chopped)

Hard boil the eggs, let them cool completely before peeling. Then cut them in half, scoop out the yolk. Add the yolks with the mayo, mustard, salt and pepper along with 1/8 teaspoon of paprika. Mix until the mixture is smooth. Then add in half of the bacon. Spoon this into each 1/2 egg white shell. Garnish with the remainder of the bacon and sprinkle with more paprika. 

Two thumbs up. 

That is not the end of the story. Dan from 6:15am, not to be confused with Danno from 6:15am. introduced me to an egg cooker. In fact he presented me with a gift of one last week. Dean already tried it out but I wanted to use it too. It is the fastest and easiest way to make hard boiled eggs. I know some love the traditional method. Others love the instant pot for hard boiled eggs. I haven't had much luck especially peeling them to look deviled egg quality. The Egg Cooker works! I don't get a kick back for saying I like this kitchen tool. I can't even tell you where to find it because mine was a gift. I can tell you it works. I'm going to try poached eggs in it next. 

No matter how  you get all those eggs hard boiled for Easter, this recipe will make quick use of the eggs after they've been colored. 

Enjoy good food,

Coach Nancy

Many of those in YOU 2.0 in 2021 already have guessed who is our overall challenge winner. Congratulations to Holly Kemp for losing 12.1% body fat in the last six weeks.  

Here is what Chris said about Holly during the challenge: "When this busy mom of a tribe is not cranking out homemade sausage or making a recipe book she’s probably ...researching a new vaccine for Covid while doing pushups!! Holly you are awesome!!" (by the way I don't think Chris and Holly have ever met personally- they are YOU 2.0 friends) Holly also celebrated a birthday during the challenge, Happy Birthday Holly. 

Congratulations to all who worked hard during YOU 2.0 in 2021. Taking steps to make yourself healthier will automagically make you happier. The whole world needs a bit more happier!

Watch for an InBody Scan Challenge to start in April.

Coach Nancy

Remember if you want to sneak a peak at what she has won here is the Winner's Menu. 10 Recipes for YOU.  

Week two is in the books for March Madness. We celebrated week one with a party. My kind of party that is. Each person picked an exercise for the whole group to do. Of course someone in the group picked Get Ups. While looking at the end goal of 1,000 Get Ups can be daunting, taking them in daily chunks of 38 Get Ups makes it much more doable. Our party ended by sampling a Chocolate Raspberry Protein Shake. It was super yummy and a nice treat after a hard training. 

Today ends week 2 of March Madness. We celebrated by allowing all those in the challenge to pick a prize out of the bucket. There were Gifts of Get Ups, Bonus Get Ups ranging from 10 - 20 that you could add right onto your score card. We also had one prize that was top notch. So far one person from 5am has won this special prize. It was "Do 1, Get 1,000!". Yes, that lucky person had to do one Get Up in order to claim 1,000 Get Ups. They've completed their requirement for the challenge already. Other lucky people gave away Get Ups to others, earned double Get Ups, and even earned Get Ups from others in training that hour. 

Who knows what week 3 will hold. I do know that at the end of the month when you tally all your Get Ups, you'll be amazed. Even if you don't hit the 1,000 it will be awesome to see your final number. There are not a whole lot of people that can say they've done 345 Get Ups in a month, or 517, or 838. That final number represents hard work no matter what it is. 

Keep Making It Happen,

Coach Nancy

Today I did an experiment as Coach Dean put it. I wanted a protein shake that included chocolate - my favorite- and a fruit. I wanted it to feel fun and festive. I usually like dark cherries and chocolate but I am all out. So I did a little experimenting and came up with this cheerful and very tasty shake. 

Chocolate Raspberry Protein Shake

• 1 scoop Chocolate UMP protein by Beverly International
• 1/2 cup frozen rasberries
• 1 cup of water
• 3 chocolate chips

I put the first three ingredients in a blender and gave it a good whirl. After I poured it in a glass I added the chips. The chips just make it look like a party is just about to happen, so why not?

Enjoy Good Food,

Coach Nancy

P.S. I wonder what other flavors of protein would work well with raspberries? What do you think? 

We missed it last year but we're not going to make that mistake again. March Madness is back. During the month of March we've challenged you to work just a bit harder or in many cases longer. This year is no different. March Madness includes a personal challenge and a team challenge. 

March Madness individually means you'll be completing 1,000 Get Ups over the month. If you do the math and I did that ends up being about 38 every day in order to complete the requirement before Recovery week. (Recovery week starts March 28 and goes through April 4th) Monday during training many were able to finish all 38 and some even did more. I'll help you out as much as possible. Recording the Get Ups is on the honor system. Zoom trainers, please let me know either on Zoom or text me. (Of course emailing works too) Don't worry if you know Get Ups are a challenge for you, I will work with you to help you keep your March Madness challenge. 

March Madness for the Team. Starting today, Monday, March 1st. Every training hour that has 100% of its peeps completing their 38 for the first four days, Monday - Thursday, will have a party on Friday. I know what's March without a party the first week? Remember you need to do four days of 38 Get Ups. You could choose to do 152 Get Ups in a row instead. It is March Madness.  

The Madness starts today,

Coach Nancy